The beira has a bushy tail and a coarse coat which is reddish grey on the back separated from the white underparts by a dark band which extends along each side from the elbow to the rear leg.

Its long, slender legs are fawn-coloured and the head is yellowish red with black eyelids and white eye rings.

[3] The beira is endemic to northeast Africa, it occurs in the far south of Djibouti southwards across Somaliland and northern Somalia, and into extreme northeastern Ethiopia.

The main part of its range is in Somaliland, from the frontier with Djibouti, east into Puntland in northern Somalia and the Nogaal Valley.

[1] The only captive breeding group of beira was at Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation where they have been successfully bred and the number reached a peak of 58 in 2005.